


Faults

by WildnessBecomesYou



Category: Ratched (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Poetry, Sara Teasdale, having a crisis, i didnt spend all morning, over my middle school choir director, reading us this poem, what are you talking about?, yep that's right we're back on the fluff train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26779750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildnessBecomesYou/pseuds/WildnessBecomesYou
Summary: Mildred has faults. They are numerous. Gwendolyn loves her anyways.
Relationships: Gwendolyn Briggs/Mildred Ratched
Comments: 25
Kudos: 92





	Faults

**Author's Note:**

> My middle school choir teacher read us this poem during the poetry unit she did with our advanced choir. At the time, we were performing the SSA arrangement of Childs's "I Am Not Yours," another beautiful Sara Teasdale poem. But "Faults" has stuck with me a long time (almost 11 years now), and oh boy, don't it fit our girls? 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy :)

_They came to tell your faults to me,_  
_They named them over one by one;_  
_I laughed aloud when they were done,_  
_I knew them all so well before, —_  
_Oh, they were blind, too blind to see_  
_Your faults had made me love you more._  


Faults; Sara Teasdale

Gwendolyn knows. 

Mildred Ratched has had a tough life. Mildred Ratched has been fighting for nearly her entire life. Mildred Ratched has killed—perhaps not as much as her brother, but enough that sometimes, it seems like it might be second nature to her. 

Gwendolyn knows these things. Mildred has revealed some of them herself, and some things have been left for Gwendolyn to discover herself. Either way, Gwendolyn Briggs is well aware of the misdeeds, insecurities, and shortcomings of Mildred Ratched. 

She’s not particularly fond of some of them, but she loves this woman, and they’re part of this woman. 

When Louise—how the hell the faded flapper had found her, she didn’t know—had come to her doorstep, she’d known Mildred’s faults. But the motel owner had effectively shoved her way inside, thumping a large recording device on a side table. 

“Can I _help_ you, Louise?” Gwendolyn hisses, arms crossing over her chest. Mildred would be due back fairly soon, and she hated to think the showdown that would happen if the two women crossed each other. 

Well, she didn’t hate to think of it, but Louise was Betsy’s friend, and Betsy had been kind to Mildred and herself. So it wouldn’t do for the motel owner to potentially go missing. 

“I have a confession,” Louise says, her eyes shifting. 

“And what would you like to tell me?” Gwendolyn shifts her weight to one leg, notices that Louise’s hands are shaking. She wonders what that means. 

“No, someone else’s.” Her hands trip over the device, her eyes still shifting around. “Have you got any alcohol?”

“No,” Gwendolyn answers immediately. She hopes, a little halfheartedly, that Louise doesn’t see the alcohol cart in the other room. “And why should I care for someone else’s confession?”

Louise frowns deeply. The device clicks on and Mildred’s voice spins out. “ _You see, Father, Edmund Tolleson is my brother._ ”

Gwendolyn hears the ice pick drive into the Father’s skull and she winces. Louise sniggers and hits a button on the device, Mildred’s voice speeding up until it’s unintelligible. A second voice joins in and Louise hits another button. 

_“But the records didn’t mention the manner in which you were discharged, and I wonder if you might want to tell me what happened.”_

Gwendolyn waits patiently. She has heard these stories before. When the tape clicks off, she sighs. “Did Bucket put you up to this?” 

Louise actually looks confused for a moment. “Betsy? N-no. Ratched has Betsy wrapped around her little finger. The witch practically runs the hospital.” She’s worked herself up to steaming mad, actually stomps in place. 

She reminds Gwendolyn of a petulant toddler. “Mildred cares a great deal for Betsy Bucket. I believe the feeling is mutual. In fact, Mildred is at the hospital now.” She lets her right hand float away from her body in a circular gesture. “So…did you have a point to this? Or were you just bored?” 

Louise fumbles in place, her face reddening. “I haven’t taken this to the police—“

“Well that’s probably wise, it could reflect very poorly on Betsy.” 

“But I could!” 

Gwendolyn chuckles. “Yes, I’m sure you could. Now,” she says, opening the front door, “if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to go about my day.”

Louise stutters for a moment, then huffs, clutches her feather boa closer and stomps out the door. 

“Have a nice day!” Gwendolyn calls after her, shuts the door gently before she sees the rude gesture she knows Louise will throw over her shoulder. 

Louise has left the recording device behind her. Gwendolyn sighs at it. 

“I don’t think I’ve had my vitamins today,” she murmurs to no one in particular, wandering off to find them. 

Mildred arrives home within the half-hour, calling out for Gwendolyn as she opens the door. “In here,” Gwendolyn responds from the living room. Mildred strides in, gloves in hand and coat still on.

Gwendolyn smiles up at her, closes her eyes at the kiss Mildred places on her cheek. “Did you have a good morning?” 

“Well, it was pleasant enough,” Mildred answers, straightening back up. “I do think there are patients I will miss. But it’s better for them if I fade off like this. Some don’t deal quite so well with surprises.” Gwendolyn hums in agreement, fingers at the edge of Mildred’s coat as she removes it. 

Mildred drapes her coat over her arm and goes to put it away.

And that’s when she spots the device. “What’s this?” she asks, and Gwendolyn knows it’s supposed to sound casual and curious, but the tilt at the end is just a bit too high for that. 

“Oh,” Gwendolyn sighs, standing and moving towards her, “Louise brought this by just a while ago. Left it behind when she went.” 

Mildred looks alarmed. “Louise?”

“Yes,” Gwendolyn says, taking Mildred’s coat and gloves from her, putting them in the hall closet. When she comes back, Mildred is still staring at the recording device, eyes wide, hands shaking slightly. 

“Darling.”

“I… that tape…”

“I know,” Gwendolyn murmurs. She bends slightly, forcing Mildred to look in her eyes. Mildred’s eyes are shiny, filmed over with a layer of tears that isn’t quite ready to fall. “Mildred, nothing on that tape surprised me.” Mildred blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek. Gwendolyn brushes it away. “I already knew these things. You’ve already trusted me with these things. The only new information was that Betsy Bucket knows, too.” 

Mildred exhales shakily. “You’re not…”

It’s an unfinished question. Gwendolyn furrows her brow. “Not what, darling?”

Mildred’s voice is small. “Not going to leave me?”

Gwendolyn feels something dislodge deep in her chest. It’s not fair, what the world has put this woman through. “Oh, Mildred, my love, no. I love you in spite of your flaws, because you trusted me to keep them, because you’ve shown me the truest you.”

“You don’t hate me?” Mildred is clinging to her now, fingers digging into Gwendolyn’s waist. 

“Of course not. I could never hate you.”

“You’re not scared of me?” Her voice shakes as she asks it, and she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing on it.

Gwendolyn squeezes her face in her hands, tilts her foreheads down to touch Mildred’s. “Of course I am,” she chuckles, presses a kiss to the apple of Mildred’s cheek. “But only because you have the power to ruin me.” 

Mildred shudders and her fingers tighten. “You scare me like that too.” She gasps in a breath and lets it out steadily. When she breathes in again, she nuzzles against Gwendolyn. “I love you.” 

Gwendolyn smiles, presses a gentle kiss to Mildred’s lip. “I love you too.” 

_Your faults had made me love you more._

**Author's Note:**

> I have one more idea that comes from my own little brain before I move on to requests, so if you've got something in mind, do let me know! 
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed :)


End file.
